Should I buy the Paris Metro Pass offered through Rail Europe for $67 for 5 days? or can I get it cheaper when i arrive in Paris at the airport?

Also, is the Museum pass offered on their website worth it?

Note: I will be in Paris for 7 days and thus will need a pass for 7 days. Therefore I will have to buy a 5 day and 2 day pass through Rail Europe bringing my total to $109 for the week.

Hi first,

Are you sure you need a metro pass?

A carte (10 tickets) is 10E.
You would have to ride the metro 50 times to break even.

ok, we just got back and others may have better advice but I got mine from this site and will tell you what worked. We bought 10 metro tickets at a time - you can do this at any station - it was $10.50 eu which saves you something like...3eu I think.Keep in mind that w/ the metro tickets you can ride anywhere on the system for one ticket until you exit - you can change as many times as you want and won't need a "new" ticket until you exit. We generally used 2 tickets/day and walked a lot. You may not even need that many depending on where you are staying as we were staying fairly far from the tourist zone. I read a lot of different advice about the museum passes so we decided not to get them. We really only wanted to go to the Louvre, Orsay and the Eiffel Tower anyway and had the advantage of being in Paris for a week so we weren't in a rush.we went to the Louvre on a first Sunday so it was free- so is Orsay. So we only ended up paying for Orsay and the Tower.

Can the carte also be used on the buses? And can I purchase a carte at CDG on Sunday?

We didn't take a bus at all - I know the metro tickets work on the RER which you will need to get from CDG to downtown. I would think you could buy metro tickets at CDG but am not sure. We bought RER ticket to Gard Nord and there bought our batches of 10 metro tickets

I'm in agreement with Leahinsc. I always swear I'm going to ride the buses or the metro more, but usually end up walking ! 2 carnets( for 2 people) lasted us 6 days and we did make some fairly long trips , which would have been impractible for walking

It's a carnet (car-nay), not a carte (there are cartes, but that's another story),and yes you can use them on the buses.

The metro tickets are good for the buses. However, you can't transfer for free as you can on the metro.

"It's a carnet (car-nay)"

If they had those for paintings, would they be called an Art Carnet?

All right, thanks for your guys advice on the metro system. I'll just purchase a carnet when I get to CDG.

Now for the museum pass. I won't get the opportunity to get the free Sunday, so should I buy the pass from the Rail Europe website? The prices are:
$22 - 1 day
$42 - 3 consecutive days
$63 - 5 consecutive days

Since you are going to be in Paris for one week I just don't think it is a great buy. Think about it...one day $22 means you have to go to at least 2 museums to make it worth it. For example - Orsay is 7.50eu. Are you really going to want to cram in 2 museums like say the Louvre + Orsay to try and get your money's worth out of the pass? I have heard others say that the main value was in getting to the front of the line. The longest we waited was about 20 minutes on the free Sunday for the Louvre...of course the story would be different in June-Aug then in Feb.

You can't use metro tickets from CDG into Paris, it's too far out and you need to buy a special ticket, if you want to do that. You can use metro tickets on the RER within central Paris itself, just not to get there from CDG.

Raileurope sells a 5zone tourist pass for $67, which is an abnormally high markup, even on a pass you don't need. First, tourists rarely need a five-zone pass. Second, that sells in Paris for 46 euro which should be about US$60. The 2-day pass sells in Paris for 27 euro (US$35) that they want $41 for.

You don't need those anyway, the tourist passes are too expensive.

On the other hand, their rates for the museum pass are a bargain, as a e-day museum pass is 36 euro and they sell it for US$42. Whether you need one or will use it or not, their rates are good IF you don't pay any extra delivery or service fees.

The Paris transit company sells a daily card called <b>Mobilis</b> for &euro;5.30 that gives you unlimited use of the M&eacute;tro, bus, train, and tram within central Paris (Zones 1&amp;2). This is cheaper than a carnet if you plan to take more than 5 bus and M&eacute;tro rides in a day. (Note: if you ride the bus, each leg requires a ticket from your carnet, as there are no transfers.)

The <b>Carte Orange</b> is even better than Mobilis if you're in Paris for more than two days out of a calendar week (Mon-Sun). It costs &euro;15.40 and provides unlimited travel as above for up to 7 days. So even if you start using it as late as Wednesday, you'll still be ahead. You'll need a 1&quot; x 1&quot; photo for your permanent card the first time you buy one. After that, you just buy a new ticket.

So is that better than $109, or what?

&gt;It's a carnet..., not a carte..

Thanks St. Cirq.

(I left out the n and transposed the e and t, but otherwise I got it right.)

You guys are great. Thanks for all the help.

What arr. is your hotel in? There are several ways besides the RER to get into Paris from CDG. Depending on where you are staying the RER can be a pain with luggage. Look into the Air France bus (do not need to fly Air France to use this service, the Roissey bus (spelling ? Oh I will just use Ira's comedic logic), and several decently priced shuttle services.

Paris passes marketed by RailEurope are overpriced and they all can be bought in Paris cheaper. Museum passes at any museum. Sundays? most museums half off, some free. Louvre half off about everyday after 3pm and is open at night. No reason to buy these items here - plus you may have to pay some shipping fee. Most people find the metro carnets (group of 10 tickets that cost about the same as six solo tickets and can be shared with others) the best bet but look into Mobilis and Carte Orange is traveling more.

Question: Does the Air France Shuttle just have one stop. At Arc de Triomph? Are there other stops...if there are where are they?

People who don't think twice about getting on the Eurostar to go from London to Paris or the ICE from Munich to Bonn somehow think that getting on the RER to go into Paris takes more effort than they can manage.

Air France buses from CDG
#2 Porte Maillot - Arc de Triomphe
#4 Gare de Lyon - Montparnasse

RATP Roissybus terminates at Op&eacute;ra

(p.s. You still have to get your luggage onto the bus and you still have to get from the terminus to your destination. I don't get it.)

A museum pass also lets you bypass long entry lines and walk right in. A great time saver for a place like the Louvre.